As the amount of data in computing systems continues to increase, there is a strong desire for improvements that allow datasets to be efficiently processed. DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and the like are often too small or too expensive to efficiently process large data sets. Algorithms that process data out-of-core (e.g., using storage such as Hard Disk Drives (HDDs)) tend to be slow.
One potential solution to this problem is to introduce flash memory into the computing systems. Often, the flash memory is introduced as an additional memory layer or tier between DRAM and HDDs. Flash memory can be quite large in size and can accommodate many different computing scenarios. Flash memory is faster than HDDs and has the capacity to accelerate dataset analysis. Even though flash memory can improve the processing capability of the computing systems, there is a need to effectively managing flash memory.
Flash memory, like other hardware devices, has an expected lifespan. The expected lifespan of a flash memory is often expressed in terms of overwrites. An overwrite may refer to how much data is written to the flash memory. For example, a less expensive solid state drive can be expected to last five years assuming three overwrites per day. If the flash memory has a capacity of 100 Gigabytes (GB) one overwrite corresponds to writing 100 GB of data to the solid state drive. Thus, three overwrites corresponds to writing 300 GB of data to the flash memory. More expensive solid state drives may allow ten overwrites per day for the same lifespan of five years.
Managing the lifespan of a flash memory is not trivial and is complicated by the fact that flash memory may be used by multiple clients that have varying memory requirements and that use flash memory in different ways and at different rates. If writes to the flash memory are not managed, the flash memory may fail prematurely. Systems and methods are needed to manage or maintain the lifespan of a flash memory to ensure that the actual lifespan is substantially the same as the expected lifespan.